2016 Conterno-Nervi, Gattinara DOCG, Alta Langhe, Piedmonte, Italy.
The 2016 Conterno-Nervi Gattinara is surprisingly shy and mineral toned, much less expressive at this point than I had expected, and at first a real disappointment, but slowly it woke up and gave a pretty performance, though no where near what the 2013 gave me a few years back. I am hoping I got a somewhat less than perfect bottle, because this vintage should have been much more concentrated and complex, even if in the end this was a pleasing wine, once it finally came alive. The garnet/brick hued 100% Nebbiolo was medium bodied and slightly muted on the nose with wilted rose petals, crushed stone, red berries and minty herbs leading to a palate of flinty black cherry, strawberry, damson plum and burnt orange fruits, along with dried lavender, leather, tarry licorice, cedar and balsamic notes. Tasting blind in a lineup of Piedmonte wines, including some heavy hitter Barolo, this Nervi kind of got lost and failed to meet my hopes and expectation, but I bet if I had it solo with a meal it would have pleased much more. Gattinara, as mentioned before, is a high quality DOCG zone in the northern reaches of Piedmonte, with a long history of wine growing and has become hotspot in recent with outstanding wines and vintages in this region, which needs to be about 90% Nebbiolo (or Spanna, as the locals call it) along with tiny amounts of Barbera and Vespolina being allowed in the DOCG wines.
Nervi is Gattinara’s oldest winery, originally founded in 1906 by Luigi Nervi and recently bought and run by Robert Conterno who is part of the famous Barolo family, comes from vines in the Vercelli hills on the west bank of the Sesia River and Novara hills, rivals many top names in the well known Barolo. Gattinara is a high quality DOCG zone in the northern reaches of Piedmonte, with a long history of wine growing and has become hotspot in recent with outstanding wines and vintages in this region. The winery once focused on three Gattinara bottlings including a basic normale Gattinara DOCG, the Gattinara Molsino and the Gattinara Valferana, while now Conterno has turned attention to make the 100% Nebbiolo Gattinara the center of project and raise the quality. I really loved the 2013 vintage here and I hope the next bottling of Conterno-Nervi I have is more to my liking, especially as the prices have gone up significantly in recent years, because sadly this 2016 under performed, again I am hoping the bottle wasn’t the best in the batch and maybe if I get another that it lives up to what it certainly should be. Conterno’s influence here definitely ultimately bring great things to these Nervi Nebbiolo(s) and while the price per bottle has gone up, they still are somewhat reasonable for what you can get. These northern Piedmonte communes, including Gattinara, Gheme, Lessona, Bramaterra and Boca, are well worth discovering and exploring.
($65 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive